Check valve



' Jan. 24, 1939.

s. T. WILLIAMS ET AL, 2,144,952

CHECK VALVE Filed May 22, 1937 INVENTORS: v "fol 1 y i'ladw Patented Jan. 24, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHECK VALVE Application May 22, 1937, Serial No. 144,124

The present invention contemplates a pump of Referring to the drawing, the fluid pressure 5 this type which will deliver fresh air free from pump in its entirety may be said to consist of an contamination with gasolene or oil, so that these engine cyl der "3 v g a reciprocahle piston objectionable substances will not be introduced ll therein, a cylinderhead 12 having a spark plug into a tire when the air delivered by the pump is p n n i3 d a ust le xt nta 201 used for that purpose, or when air pressure so opening 14 therein, the latter leading to a maniproduced is used to clean away dust, crumbs, fold and carburetor (not shown). The specific etc., from the upholstery of a car, oil will not be form, dimensions and construction of the engine discharged upon, and stain such upholstery. Cylinder D Se forms I10 Di 0f the present The present invention primarily consists of a invention.

23': casinghaving special forms of check valves there- The fluid pressure pump unit to which the L5 in, a fitting carried by the casing adapted for present invention is specifically directed, may be engagement in the spark plug opening of an normally carried in the tool box of an automobile engine cylinder, and a conduit leading from said and is intended to be used only when one desires casing and havingat its free end a hose coupling, to inflate a tire, Clean the upholstery f e 30. air nozzle or the like. Of these check valves the or provide a source of compressed air for use with 0 air inlet valve consists of a housing in which a a spray gun or the like. It primarily consists of thin disk of rubber, Neoprene or the like, is a substantially cylindrical casing 45, open at its peripherally held and operates on the suction or opposite ends and carrying at one end a detachintake stroke of the piston to admit atmospheric able fitting or adapter 5 which is externally air freely into the engine cylinder, and on the screw-threaded for enga i h Spark pl compresison stroke operates to promptly and p ni g t n e y r head- A y m an tightly close said intake valve to prevent the dismay be provided for detachably connecting the charge of the air therethrough. The air outlet fitting IE to the casing l5, and as herein shown valve preferably consists of a ball check contained the fitting is formed With an enlarged nternal Within a housing having two spaced seats, one of bore and shoulder to receive one end of the cas- 40- which is adapted to receive the ball on the sucing and provided with diametrically-aligned opention stroke, and the other adapted to receive the ings for accommodating a securing bolt ll adaptball on the compression stroke, said latter seat ed to pass through complementally aligned openbeing so formed as to permit air to pass around ings in the end of the casing I5. The casing I5 the ball and into the conduit to the tire or other at its opposite end is flared outwardly, as indioutlet. The invention also includes other feacated at [8, and terminates in a cylindrical flange tures of novelty and combinations of parts, as 9. W ch ii here Shown as internally SCreW- will be more apparent from the detailed descripthreaded and providing a shoulder or seat 20 for tion which follows, when considered in conneca flexible valve disk 2%. For securing the valve tion with the accompanying drawing showing a disk to the casing and to provide a closure seat 50 preferred embodiment of the invention, and for said disk, there is provided a clamping memwherein:-- ber 22 having a flat closure wall 23 formed with a Figure 1 is a view, partly in section and partly plurality of radial openings 24 therein, the said in elevation, of. a fluid pressure pump embodying closure wall at its outer periphery being formed our invention and showing the position of the with an upwardly-extending annular ring 25 55 1 Claim.

The presentinvention relates to a fluid pressure pump, and more particularly to one wherein the actual pumping operation is performed by the movement of a pistonin one of the cylinders i of an internal combustion engine.

Fluid pressure pumps of this general type are known and have been used with varying degrees of success for the emergency inflation of tires of motor vehicles. The primary objection thereto has been that gasolene and oil from the engine are entrapped with the air delivered by the pump to the tire, the deleterious effects of which substances on the inner tube of a tire being well known.

check valves at the intake or suction stroke of the engine cylinder.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing the position of the valves at the compression stroke of the cylinder, the conduit being shown as connected to a pneumatic tire.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the valves of .the fluid pressure pump.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the discharge valve of the pump.

Fig. 5 is a section taken along the plane of the line 55 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a section taken along the plane of the line B6 of Fig. 4.

lit)

which is externally screw-threaded to engage the threads in the flange l9, and at its inner periphery is formed with a cylindrical wall 26, which, at its outer end, is formed with an inwardlydirected flange 21.

The flexible valve disk 2| is preferably formed of Neoprene or other suitable composition Which is not attacked by gasolene or oil, and is of a width to normally overlie the openings 24 in the closure wall 23 and has a central opening of a diameter approximately equal to that of the bore through the casing 15. The disk 2| is peripherally held upon its seat 20 by the clamping member 22 but is free to flex inwardly into the flared enlargement of the casing by the pressure of atmospheric air when the pressure within the casing is reduced to sub-atmospheric pressure, as best shown in Fig. 3.

Mounted within the cylindrical portion 26 of the clamping member 22 is a discharge valve consisting of a housing 28 having an outer cylindrical wall snugly fitting within the wall 26 and adapted for relative rotation with respect thereto, said housing at one end having a reduced,

'- outwardly-extending axial nipple portion 29, to

which a flexible hose or conduit 38 may be secured, and at its other end being cupped inwardly, as at 3!, to provide a seat for a ball valve 32 contained within the housing. Within the housing 28 and spaced rearwardly from the seat Si is a second valve seat 33 formed on a reentrant flange 34. The valve seat 33 is preferably so formed that when the ball 32 seats thereagainst it will not provide a complete closure but will provide by-passes for the air around the valve. To accomplish this, the reentrant flange 34, which is normally of truly conical form, is deformed to provide a seat or" substantially elliptical form, as best shown in Fig. 6.

The valves 2| and 32 are preferably coaxially mounted, and also substantially concentrically disposed. To facilitate mounting of the fitting IS in the spark plug opening in the cylinder head, a swivel connection is provided between the easing and the housing 28 by the flange 21 on the clamping member being turned-in over the shoulder on the housing 28. To insure against leakage of air through the swivel connection, a packing ring 35 is disposed between. the complemental parts thereof.

The free end of the hose or conduit may be provided with any suitable fitting, such, for example, as a pump connection 36, where the fluid pressure pump is intended for connection with a tire valve stem 31 on an inner tube 38 contained Within a tire casing 39 mounted on a Wheel rim 40. In order that the pressure within the tire may be known while inflating the same, a pressure gauge H of any preferred construction may be connected within the conduit 39.

When it is desired to use the fluid pressure pump of the present invention for any desired purpose, one of the spark plugs from an engine cylinder will be removed, the fitting or adapter it on the pump is then screwed into the spark plug opening and the fitting at the free end of the conduit connected to a tire valve or the like. The engine is then run slowly, whereupon at the suction or intake stroke of the piston H, as shown in Fig. l, the intake valve disk 21 will be unseated and fresh atmospheric air will enter and fill the engine cylinder. Simultaneously with this action the ball valve 32 will be seated by gravity, or by any pressure within the conduit 30. Inasmuch as the intake manifold leading to the various cylinders of the engine will be under suction, whereas the cylinder to which the pump is connected will not be under so high a degree of suction, a combustible mixture of gasolene and air will not be drawn into the cylinder to which the pump is connected. On the compression stroke of the piston the disk valve 2| will close and the built-up air pressure in the cylinder will move the ball valve 32 from its seat 3i to its seat 33 and permit the compressed air to pass around said ball valve into the nipple 29, thence into the conduit as, and from there into the tire. As the engine is operated the valves 2! and 32 will alternately open and close, and pressure can thereby be built up in the tire or other reservoir, the degree of which will be indicated by the gauge 4| in the conduit 30. This pressure may be read While pumping, and the lowest reading of the vibrating gauge hand will be the approximate tire pressure. Because of the freedom of operation and the lack of restriction in the intake valve 2 i, the total area of the openings 24 being far greater than the cross-sectional area of the intake opening it, little or no gas from the intake manifold enters the cylinder on the intake stroke. Further, because of the slight reduction in pressure in the cylinder on the intake stroke, little, if any, oil accumulates above the piston. Actual test with devices as herein described has proved that no oil or gasolene is delivered to the tire or other reservoir from the pump. This is highly important, since, as is well known, gasolene and oil have deleterious effects upon rubber inner tubes; oil will also stain the vehicle upholstery where a device of this kind is used to deliver a blast of air for cleaning dust, crumbs, etc., from the interior of an automobile.

The top pressure that can be secured with an apparatus of this type approaches the top compression pressure or" the engine on which it is usec, and although such pressure will vary with different engines, in general it is around '75 pounds per square inch, which is considerably in excess of the normal pressures now employed in vehicle tires.

From the foregoing detailed description it will be apparent that we have provided a simple, practicable and compact unit, which, when used in conjunction with an engine cylinder, provides a highly eflicient fluid pressure pump; and although we have disclosed but a single preferred embodiment of our invention, it is to be understood that we do not wish to be limited to the details of construction herein set forth, since it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes therein may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What we claim is:

A fluid pressure valve comprising a one-piece housing formed at one end with an internal shoulder having an axial circular opening therethrough and formed inwardly from said end with an integral reentrant substantially elliptical flange facing said shoulder, a ball valve within said housing adapted to seat alternately on said shoulder and on the face of said elliptical flange, said ball valve when seating on the shoulder providing a complete closure for the opening therein, and when seating on the elliptical flange providing by-passages around the ball valve.

SELDEN T. WILLIAMS. ROBERT ROUNDS. 

